


Wicked Aunt

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8989870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Sabine attempts to kidnap a baby Justin.





	

Thomas could see that the stable workers were acting strange. They seemed… happier than usual. And the animals were acting up, too, the horses stomping and neighing in their stalls and the stable cat having disappeared some time ago. It was all quite suspicious, and tickled a memory at the back of his mind. The animals had acted strange like this when he was a boy, too. Until…

With a gasp, Thomas jumped out of bed and ran for the nursery just down the hall, hoping that he wasn’t too late.

The moonlight turned Sabine’s red robes dark. Just like the baby’s hair.

“Hello, little nephew,” said Sabine, standing over the crib. “You look just like your grandfather. But I wonder, did you inherit his powers?” She reached in to touch the infant, trying to see if he had any power.

And suddenly that arm was pinned to the wall by a shaft of pure darkness. Sabine turned around to smile at her attacker.

“Hello, little brother,” she said, smiling at Thomas. “How have you been faring?”

“Step away from my son, Sabine,” said Thomas, his voice laced with steel. The power had no effect on Sabine, though.

“Or what? You’ll kill me? I’ll only revive. You’ll attack me again? I can’t be hurt. And you and I both know that your magic won’t have any effect on me,” said Sabine. She smirked at Thomas’ glowing hands.

“I’ll tell the druids,” said Thomas.

“If you were going to tell them, you already would have,” said Sabine. 

“And how do you know I haven’t?” asked Thomas.

“Because I can smell their reek miles away,” said Sabine, wrinkling her nose. “Honestly, do they never bathe?”

“Maybe they just smell bad to us,” said Thomas. “I don’t hear anyone else complaining about them.”

“Oh, I see how it is,” said Sabine. “You didn’t call the druids, and you pinned me to your wall, so you could have a chat with your dear older sister. I’m touched, really.”

“What do you want, Sabine?” asked Thomas. “You’re not having my son, either.”

“I just wanted to see if your little son had any magic in him,” said Sabine.

“And does he?” asked Thomas.

“The druids could tell you just as easily as I could,” said Sabine.

“Check him,” said Thomas. “The druids would kill him or experiment on him.”

“Your mother told you about that?” asked Sabine.

“I experienced it myself,” said Thomas. “No wonder Aaron and Anastasia wanted to get as far away as possible.”

“I feel like it’s more than just that, though. Isn’t it?” asked Sabine. “You don’t just have an aversion to the druids, you’re afraid of them. You ran from them, didn’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you?” asked Thomas. “I went to them to see if they could teach me magic, and they tried to bleed it out of me. So I ran away. I ran away, and I met a beautiful woman, and I thought everything would be fine.”

“Did they kill your wife because you ran away?” asked Sabine.

“No,” said Thomas. “But you know as well as I do that the only healers on this island are druids.”

“Your fear killed her, Thomas,” said Sabine.

The shaft of darkness disappeared, and Sabine noticed that her brother looked greatly saddened. He slumped his shoulders and hung his head.

“Just go, Sabine,” said Thomas, his voice rough. “Leave me and my family alone. Don’t ever come near them again, or you’ll be sorry.”

Thomas thought that the one night would be enough for Sabine. And everything returned to normal, for a time. Thomas grieved for his wife, tried to raise his son, and let his workers do most of the work with the stables. He put wards up, protecting his stables from all kinds of outside magic. He stopped practising it, too. After a while, it was like he didn’t even have magic at all.

It was only months later, when the wards on Justin’s bedroom were breached, that Thomas remembered that he even had magic. Once again, Thomas ran to the nursery, but he’d neglected his health since his last conversation with his sister.

The nursery was empty, shadows coiling around the window.

“Sabine!” Thomas roared, and ran from the room. He barely had enough time to saddle his horse, which protested at his bulk on it back, but a quick application of his powers made the horse obey him. Thomas felt guilty, but he’d worry about that later.

The horse galloped out of the stables, its hooves loud on the cobblestone road. Thomas urged him on faster, hoping that he wasn’t too late. He headed towards Silverglade Village at first, and then, halfway to the manor, cursed himself for running home like a scared little boy and instead turned his horse back towards the coast. He spun it around too fast, and the animal reared with a whinny and threw him off.

Thomas lay there for a while in the dark, glad that he’d at least landed on the soft grass. It still hurt, but he wasn’t badly injured. Just some bruises. Besides, Justin was most certainly in danger. So Thomas got to his feet, brushed grass off himself, and started running towards the coast. He heard something that sounded like a gunshot and began running faster.

By the time Thomas reached his father-in-law’s house, out of breath, Thomas knew that he was far too late. Sabine was surely gone by now. And with her, Justin. The only thing Thomas had lived for since Catherine had died. He slumped against the stone wall, panting.

Thomas looked around frantically, breathing hard in an attempt to get his breathing under control. There was no sign of his adopted sister, apart from a scrap of red at the base of a tree. And then Thomas got a good look at it and paled. That was his adopted sister’s body at the base of the tree. He knew that she’d revive, but still… The sight made him sick to his stomach. He caught the reek of blood and hoped that his father-in-law would forgive him for throwing up over the fence.

And then a man cleared his throat, and Thomas froze in the act of wiping his mouth on his jacket sleeve.

“Young master Thomas.” Thomas relaxed. It was only his mother’s butler.

“Oh, Godfrey, it’s just you,” said Thomas, turning to face the butler. Godfrey held out a cloth while still carefully cradling the child in his arms. “You found him.”

“Your mother insisted on extra protection for you,” said Godfrey.

“I heard a gunshot,” said Thomas. He wanted to take Justin, but he was shaking too much to hold him steady.

“Yes, I found Sabine escaping with your son,” said Godfrey. “I dealt with her.”

“And her horse?” asked Thomas. He wouldn’t normally ask for the gory details, but he had to know that Kaahn wouldn’t be stomping around scaring all the horses.

“It was the strangest thing,” said Godfrey. “When her body hit the tree, her horse made the strangest sound and then disappeared, like it was nothing more than smoke.”

“Was Justin hurt at all?” asked Thomas.

“No,” said Godfrey, shaking his head. “Slept through it all. Fortunately, Sabine had the brains to put him down somewhere while she and I fought.”

“Were you hurt?” asked Thomas.

“No,” said Godfrey. “I am a good shot. She did not even manage to power up her magic before I finished her.”

“Thank you,” said Thomas. “Can you carry Justin back to the stables for me? I don’t feel steady enough right now.”

“Of course,” said Godfrey. Once back at the stables, Thomas sat in an armchair and cradled his son in his arms.

“We’ve had an adventurous night, haven’t we, son?” said Thomas gently to him. “Don’t worry, though. That wicked Aunt of yours is dead now, and she won’t be able to hurt you. I’ll make sure that my awful family never gets their hands on you, or even knows about you. I promise. You’ll have a normal life, just like your mother wanted.”

Justin slept on, not knowing just how close he’d come to his life being entirely different.


End file.
